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Ministers to oppose Sinn Fein sanctions

THE Irish government is expected to oppose sanctions against Sinn Fein following the IRA’s robbery of the Northern Bank.

A report by the International Monitoring Commission, which will go to both the Irish and British cabinets this week, is understood to recommend that Sinn Fein be punished but one official said the measures are “milder than expected”.

Michael McDowell, the justice minister, said yesterday that the government was generally against sanctions because they allowed Sinn Fein to portray itself as a victim.

“The view of our government is that sanctions of a financial kind are a sideshow,” he said.

“The taoiseach and myself have discussed this at length. One of the problems with imposing sanctions on the IRA is that it is purely symbolic. They take advantage of these symbolic sanctions to claim that they are being discriminated against and go further into victim mode.